It’s official; Marks and Spencer have fallen, the sequel.......

[MrsSnippyPants]

First thread getting full and and I continue to be interested in responses received to people’s emails and store visits.

Reporting posts may make them feel better, it may feel like a small victory, but as BickerinBrattle's post proved, it just meant that more people saw it than would ever have seen it here

I'm here for the long game.

My word. Don’t they realise how restrained and careful with words posters are around here?

They think they are playing with auld grannies and pussy cats. Shut down the convo here and it will just move elsewhere - where people are not so genteel. Is this why they don’t go and have their tantrums on the other sites?

To the person who reported me - you may drive us off this forum but the only long-term result will be that you drive us underground where our efforts will be redoubled and our actions will be tenfold more powerful because they will be taken in the grassroots, in real life, where people know instinctively, absolutely without doubt, what is right or wrong. You will never stop us

This. They amuse me. I say exactly what I want to say IRL at all times (I've peaked SO many people both female and male) and I say exactly want I want to say ALL over the rest of the internet.
If I were banned from here it would be slightly annoying, but I wouldn't actually care (I could still READ the forum after all, and I frequently read other sorts of forums without ever feeling compelled to post on them)

Had to laugh at a long and dramatic post bemoaning these M&S threads (it's on the which MN threads annoy you thread)

It's so out of touch with why we're actually challenging M&S' exclusionary changing room policy and reminds me of Helen's style of posting.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3736456-What-threads-just-piss-you-off-the-minute-you-see-the-title

I’ve emailed them to say I’m returning my credit card/sparks card and no longer shopping with them.
I’ve had a dismissive reply about being inclusive and how they are just following other companies. I’ve replied asking them if are they happy to be offering bra fitting appointments to anyone who asks, staff locked in cubicles etc etc.

HandsOffMyRights Hahaha there are some people on that thread who are going to get such a nasty shock when they come up against reality. Of course, they'll have to take their fingers out of their ears and stop going "LALALA" first...

just following other companies Makes me think of:

muuuuum I want a motorbike!
you're not getting one!
but fred and mary in my class have them
If fred and mary wanted to jump off a cliff, would you want to?

Sunkisses

Thanks . I was surprised they read it out to - nearly didn't bother emailing as was busy with other stuff at the time.

And I hate to be negative but how many Mumsnetters kept up the Ocado boycott?

Me, but I'm still boycotting Nestle and have been doing so for decades.

Me! Also always, Flora, Aussie, olay, swifter, Pantene, pret (another issue) - I have a list of companies and businesses built up over the years!

I haven’t bought nestle for years - since I was living at home (and I lent in 1989!)

I would happily boycott Flora, but their products are shite so I never bought them in the first place.

I’m also still boycotting Ocado. That was hard, but M&S is harder. I do not want them to fail. I have been impressed by their attempts to increase their use of sustainable cotton and various other initiatives. This one hurts.

I used to buy the spray for baking. My cousin put me into it. We don’t now.

I do not want them to fail

They won't.

Boycotting shouldn't be done to try and make a business fail, it should be done to uphold you principles.

Well, that was quite satisfying. I popped into my local M&S to find out how much was left on a gift card from last Christmas and spend it on something useful like undies if possible. Coming out empty-handed I was accosted (very nicely) by a woman doing a customer satisfaction survey. She looked really shocked when I said it was national policy that men could use the women's changing rooms. It was the perfect opportunity to tell M&S that they scored 1/10 as far as I was concerned at putting their customers first. The last question was what would change my mind about not shopping there again so I asked for a change in policy and a proper reply to my email to head office. I await the latter with interest.

Still boycotting Ocado.

Amazingly women actually put their rights as a priority above basic convenience . Also for the benefit of the poster upthread, thank you for that very clumsy prod at female socialisation: not I am not letting TWM get on with using me for fun and games because to stand up for my rights might mean poor M&S workers lose their jobs at Christmas..... put the glue down and step away for pete's sake.

according to M&S men’s feelz completely trump womens’ and girls’ rights to privacy and dignity.

M&S know there is no way to separate the Debbie Haytons and India Willoughby's of this world from Danielle (suck my dick) Whatzit and TWM. It can't be done. It's all of them or none of them, and they don't have the guts.

So yes, M&S see women's safety and comfort as collateral damage to the more important issue. So do many TRAs. In fact many barely see women as human and really quite enjoy seeing women distressed, angry and excluded. It's like the utter bellend that you want to toss a banana when they gurn at you "You're beautiful when you're angry darling!"

The practical upshot, M&S, is that you see TWM's right to use me, non consensually (and unknowingly, when he leaves the store hugging himself that I'm about to buy underwear with his semen on it) as greater than my right not to be used.

I’m still boycotting Ocado. Switched to Waitrose and have never met so many friendly and helpful drivers. Rarely anything broken and always on time too.

Yep, me too. Just about to go back to delivered shopping due to job changes. Won't be using Ocado. Waitrose instead. On a course out of work today including lunch on expenses. Always been to M and S from that venue before. Went to Pret instead today.

Great jhuizinga!
Sounds like a lot of staff don't know about the policy.

Datun

Forgive me if someone has already mentioned this, but what if a middle-aged man feels 'more comfortable' in the children's changing room?

The first floor in our M&S comprises the café, menswear and childrenswear. How can staff be expected to police the two fitting rooms off childrenswear if a man wanders in to try on a pair of trousers because it's 'the most convenient one'? The two departments are adjacent.

You'd like to think they could say "Excuse me, sir, the menswear fitting rooms are just over there." But this new policy means they can't now challenge any creeps who could quite easily use this as an opportunity to be close to children getting undressed.

If anyone fancies a little low key activism at M&S this weekend I have set up a little thread here:

M&S men's changing rooms this weekend?www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3737026-m-s-men-s-changing-rooms-this-weekend

Inspired by a Twitter post.

I stopped going to Pret when that poor young woman (a kid really) died after having an allergic reaction to a sandwich. They were using the ‘made on the premises’ rule to not have to put ingredients on labels. My guess is that they wanted to maintain the whole ‘hand made by pixies on the premises - defiantly not industrial kitchens’ aura. Then it came out that it was possibly the cause of the death of a woman the year before too.

I am guffawing at a twitter account of a shopper prancing into the ‘men’s’ changing room in M&S with an armful of bras. I hope it’s true!